Lions Fail to Hold Lead, Fall to Bruins : Baseball: UCLA scores four runs in the seventh inning and wins, 9-3. Struggling Loyola drops to 6-10.

What has been a difficult season for the Loyola Marymount baseball team continued Wednesday afternoon.

UCLA rallied to defeat Loyola, 9-3, at George Page Stadium.

Bruin center fielder Michael Moore homered and drove in three runs and reliever Tom Bonds pitched four innings of no-run, one-hit ball to earn his first victory.

“The turning point in the game was when Bonds came in,” Bruin Coach Gary Adams said. “Until then, they seemed to have all the momentum. He came in and put a stop to it.”

UCLA (14-4) managed only seven hits but took advantage of the 15 walks. Trailing, 3-2, the Bruins took the lead with a four-run seventh inning, then added three more runs in the ninth.

Shawn Wills’ fourth-inning homer gave UCLA its first run and the Bruins added another on Ryan McGuire’s bases-loaded walk in the fifth.

Loyola (6-10) regained the lead on catcher Bob Ickes’ sixth-inning fielder’s choice, but the Bruins sent nine batters to the plate in a seventh inning, which was highlighted by Matt Schwenke’s two-run single.

Former Beverly Hills standout Moore, who has 10 hits in his last 18 at-bats to raise his average 100 points, put the game out of reach with a two-run, ninth-inning homer off loser Brian Fitzgerald (1-2).

“We broke down, didn’t throw enough strikes and gave up too many walks,” Loyola Coach Jody Robinson said. “And they’re a pretty good team and you can’t get away with that against them.”

The Lions took an early lead when Anthony Napolitano’s fielder’s choice scored Matt Marks. In the third inning, Napolitano singled home Ickes.

Neither Loyola starter R.J. Kirkland nor his UCLA counterpart, Bill Craig, who was making his first career start, figured in the decision.